56-y/o emerges on Blackburn Rovers radar as Gary Rowett alternative | OneFootball

Michael O'Neill is the latest name to be linked with the Ewood Park post

Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill is reportedly the latest name to be considered by the Blackburn Rovers hierarchy in their ongoing managerial search.

That is according to Alan Nixon, with the journalist providing a fresh update on the situation at Ewood Park via his Patreon page on Monday afternoon.

Such developments come after a fresh set of circumstances came to the fore regarding Rovers' pursuit of the vastly-experienced Gary Rowett, who is currently out of work having been dismissed by Oxford United just two days before Christmas.

It has been well-documented that the East Lancashire side's Championship campaign couldn't have gone much worse, and they found themselves slipping back into the second tier's relegation zone over the course of the weekend.

In what was Damien Johnson's second game in interim charge, Blackburn succumbed to a 2-0 defeat against a resurgent Norwich City outfit at Carrow Road on Saturday lunchtime.

Their 15th defeat after 31 league encounters, coupled with West Bromwich Albion's goalless draw against Stoke City at The Hawthorns just hours later, saw Rovers drop back into the bottom three on goal difference behind Leicester City, who were docked six points last week by the EFL for financial breaches.

As such, the hierarchy at Ewood are seeing their latest managerial search enter a second week after parting ways with Valerien Ismael on February 1st following the Frenchman's final run of games in charge, which yielded no wins in his last eight encounters.

A handful of names have subsequently been linked with the post in this part of the North West, as Rovers are currently one of three sides without a manager or head coach, albeit divisional rivals Watford look set to have concluded theirs with the pending appointment of Edward Still.

Nixon's aforementioned update has revealed that O'Neill has emerged as a surprise contender for the Rovers vacancy and that he is a standby choice should Rovers fail to land the services of the aforementioned Rowett.

It was reported on Saturday night by Nixon that Blackburn chiefs planned to speak to the 51-year-old within the subsequent 48-hour timeframe in a bid to finalise their managerial search ahead of the Foxes in a bid to give themselves a desired advantage in the closely-contested battle against relegation to League One.

Rowett is reportedly the number one choice amongst those in the boardroom in Lancashire, although two stumbling blocks have seemingly emerged - the length of the contract wanted by the respective parties, as well as interest surfacing from his former side, Leicester, who he played for between 2000 and 2002.

Nixon's latest report claims that the Bromsgrove native is still the leading candidate, but that Blackburn are also covering their backs by lining up conversations with the likes of O'Neill, should Rowett opt against a move to Ewood Park less than two months after he was dismissed at the Kassam Stadium.

Michael O'Neill's previous Championship experience would make him a shrewd managerial target for Blackburn Rovers

Although the 56-year-old has enjoyed the bulk of his managerial success in charge of Northern Ireland, O'Neill enjoyed a respectable near-three year period in charge of Stoke between November 2019 and August 2022.

The Portadown native was initially able to steer the Potters clear of relegation danger in his first half-season in North Staffordshire, before finishing 14th in both of his full seasons before being replaced by Alex Neil in the early weeks of the 2022/23 season.

He left the Bet365 Stadium with a record of 56 wins from 143 matches in charge, and has since won 12 of 30 matches in his second stint in charge at Windsor Park with his national side.

However, the main stumbling block in a potential pursuit of O'Neill could be that Northern Ireland could find themselves qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 1986 if they are able to overcome Italy and then either of Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina.